Quick Shots: Rafael Nadal's titles came vs. best

Saturday

Jan 25, 2014 at 5:33 PMJan 25, 2014 at 5:33 PM

By Matt TrowbridgeThe Journal-Standard

Rafael Nadal's 13 titles (and maybe 14 by the time you read this) have been tougher to win that Roger Federer's record 17 Grand Slams. The 17 men Federer have beaten are a combined 54-64 in Grand Slam finals; that's counting Nadal (13-5) twice for two Wimbledon wins and Andy Murray (2-5) three times, etc. The 13 runners-up to Nadal are 120-65. Four of them (and possibly five after today's Australian Open final) have never won a major, but he's beaten Federer (17-7) six times and Novak Djokovic (6-6) three times.

And Nadal has beaten them in their prime. Nine of his 13 titles have come against players who won Slams before AND after he beat them. Only three of Fed's 17 fit that category (Nadal twice and Marat Safin). When Federer beat Andre Agassi, it was the last of 90 ATP finals Agassi ever played in. When he beat Djokovic, it was four years before Djokovic won four Slams in 13 months.

Federer has won 10 Slams since he first beat Nadal at Wimbledon and five since Nadal snapped his string of five straight Wimbledons. Nadal was 21 years and one month when Federer last beat him in a Slam; at that age, Federer had zero grand slam titles and Nadal hadn't even reached the final at the U.S. or Australian Opens. Nadal is now 9-2 vs. Federer in Grand Slams and 23-10 overall, including 13-2 on clay and 10-8 on all other surfaces.

Cold game OK

A ticket broker told ESPN "we have a panicked stock market" because the cheapest Super Bowl ticket on the NFL's official resale site has fallen to $1,779. Yes, the cheapest ticket. Still, that's $409 less than last year and $809 less than two years ago despite a dream matchup of the league's two No. 1 seeds. So? I still say a rare cold-weather Super Bowl in the nation's biggest market is a good idea, even with the NFL's ridiculous contingency plans to move the date of the game if the weather gets bad enough. If the NFL can hold playoff games in Green Bay in January they can do the same in New York. Snow may be no fun in person, but it's great for football on TV, and if Rex Grossman had to throw through a rainstorm, Peyton Manning can pass through a few snowflakes.